LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. 

Chap, __. Copyright No. 

Shell____ L 5__7i5 



UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 



IMPRESSIONS 



A BOOK OF VERSE 



LILLA CABOT PERRY 




BOSTON 

COPELAND AND DAY 

MDCCCXCVIII 




1 ] 






40904 

TWDCOPfFS DECEIVED. 




COPYRIGHT, 1898, BY COPELAND AND DAY 



S-2>bSV 



C\axa 



W. <V*. 



DEDICATED TO THE MEMORY 
OF TWO FRIENDS 



^ CONTENTS ^ 

A LOVE STORY 

A SUMMER EVENING IN THE CITY PAGE 3 

HIS MORNING THOUGHT 4 

LOVE'S PRAYER 5 

I ASK NO MORE 6 

A MISUNDERSTANDING 7 

THE TRUTH ENTIRE 8 

A SHORT SEPARATION : HE 9 

A SHORT SEPARATION : SHE IO 

HE IS DEJECTED II 

LOVE'S GIFT 12 

EXILE : HER SPOKEN THOUGHT 1 3 

EXILE : HER THOUGHT UNSPOKEN 14 

SHE IS FRIGHTENED AT HIS ANGER AT HER 

RESOLVING ON A LONG ABSENCE 1 5 

A LETTER SHE WROTE BUT DID NOT SEND 1 6 

NO LETTER FROM HIM ! 1 7 

SHE THINKS HE IS CHANGED 1 8 

SHE LOVES 19 

SHE HOPES 20 

SHE DESPAIRS 21 

HER LETTER ON HEARING HIM ILL SPOKEN OF 22 

SELF-ENCOURAGEMENT 23 

HIS ANSWER 24 

HER ANSWER TO A SCEPTICAL LETTER 25 

HIS ANSWER 26 

ON RECEIVING HIS LETTER 27 
MEETING AFTER LONG ABSENCE : AS SHE FEARED 

IT WOULD BE 28 

AFTER LONG ABSENCE : AS IT WAS 29 

THE END 30 

LOVE AND DEATH 

LOVE AND DEATH 33 

DEATH, THOU ART BEAUTIFUL 34 

SORROW 35 

vii 



AT SORROWS WINDOW PAGE 36 

TOO LATE 37 

NOT DEAD 38 

IN DAYS GONE BY : RONDEAU REDOUBLE 39 

REQUIESCAT IN PACE 40 

THE SMILING DEAD 41 

SOME GRAVES THERE ARE 42 

LIFE AND DEATH 43 

A WORD FROM A FREED SPIRIT 44 

MISCELLANEOUS POEMS 

ART 47 
ALLSTON'S PICTURE OF LORENZO AND JESSICA 48 

A RAINY DAY WITH THE ANTHOLOGY 49 

WITH A BOOK OF VERSE 50 

WITH A FLOWER FROM CARNAC 5 1 

CHATEAU D'HAUTEFORT : NOW 52 

CHATEAU D'HAUTEFORT : THEN 53 

FAILURE 54 

THE SOUL'S SELF 55 

THE SECRETS OF ALL HEARTS 56 

TO TIME 57 

REPENTANCE 58 

SYMPATHY 59 

GRIEF'S LONELINESS 60 

MEETING AFTER ABSENCE AND CHANGE 6 1 

IN THE MORNING 62 

TO A DESPAIRING LOVER 63 

ONCE MORE 64 

WHAT THE BROOK SAID 65 

IN ANSWER TO A QUESTION 66 

SONG 67 

SONG 68 

SONG 69 

CHERRY BLOSSOMS 70 

DECEMBER 71 

HERE I LIE DREAMING : RONDEAU 72 
VI ii 



TO HELEN PAGE 73 

TO HELEN WITH A HAND GLASS 74 

LOVE, ART THOU GONE ? 75 

LADY OF THE MOONLIGHT 76 

MUST I THEN WOUND THEE? 77 

LOVE AND ANGER 78 
EL MIHRAB : THE HOLY OF HOLIES OF THE 

MOSgUE AT CORDOVA 79 

TO A BRIDE 80 

HORSEMAN SPRINGING FROM THE DARK : A 

DREAM 8l 



IX 



A LOVE STORY 




A SUMMER EVENING IN THE CITY 

)N the soft pulsing darkness here 
We silent sit, my heart beats loud 
[With joyous sense that you are near 
jYet dares not speak the thoughts 
I that crowd 

And fill my soul, until I seem 

No more myself; but, through the night 

Like the pale shadow of a dream 

To float and quiver as the light 
Faint quivers on the wall. 

The dim light from street lamps below 
That slanting strikes above my head, 
The sound of footsteps to and fro 
This summer night, unreal and dread 
All common things strike on my heart, 
Like voices weird from bygone years. 
In some fantastic way, a part 
Of my past life this night appears, 
And you the soul of it. 

Your shadowv form across the room 
Seems stretching shadowy arms to me ; 
Our souls embrace in the soft gloom, 
Not two but one they seem to be, 
Held breathless by this night's strange power 
Which we may never feel again, 
Farewell and greeting in one hour 
We say to keenest joy and pain 
Which yet is but a dream. 
3 




HIS MORNING THOUGHT 

*WHITE flower bloomed in the 

/morning 

S) And I saw it and knew it fair ; 

When the next day dawned I sought it 
But missed it everywhere. 

A white star shone in the evening 

It shone through my dreams and my sleep 

Till its shaft of light pierced through my heart 
As a stone through waters deep. 

Though you love not and reck not of me 
I have found my flower in your hand 

And your white soul's light hath cleft a heart 
That can know and understand. 




LOVE'S PRAYER 

>OVE without hope cannot endure, 
you say ; 

Let mine eyes utter what you know 
too well, 

Thus shall their sad insistence ever tell 
A love you should not scorn or drive away, 
A love in sorrow growing day by day 
Like those pale blossoms in the shade that 

dwell 
But reach more strenuous toward the half 

guessed spell 
The sun faint flickering through thick leaves 
would lay. 

I ask not of you what you cannot give, 
I ask for this my love but leave to live, 
Since dying it must suffer keener pain 
Than living for your sake, though all in vain, 
Yet not in vain if you grant one last prayer : 
Let others share your joy ; with me your 
sorrow share ! 




ASK NO MORE 

?OUR crowded life has then no place 

'for me ? 

• Your busy day for me no little hour : 
I cannot tell my love with eloquence 
As others use — I can but feel love's power. 

The silence of the stars must speak for me ; 
The gray slow dawn when sleepless night has 

fled; 
The quiet marshes where the sea comes in 
A conqueror, though none have heard his 

tread. 

Give me the lonely hours, the silences, 
The quiet musings by the marshy shore, 
One moment's thought when all the world 's 

asleep, — 
Give me but these and I '11 not ask for more. 




A MISUNDERSTANDING 

^HE flower of friendship has been 
jtouched by frost, 

I And think you it can ever bloom again, 
Waking from its cold sleep with struggling 
pain 

To raise its drooping head, all tempest-tost, 
And win back its rich hue faded and lost ? 
Alas, your tears and kisses all are vain ! 
The hapless flower that your neglect hath 

slain 
Shall wake no more to count life's bitter cost. 

No ! Let it fall upon earth's pitying breast, 
Dead leaves of hope heaped high above its 

head! 
So dear it was that I no tears can shed 
Nor dare to look upon its place of rest. 
You can shed tears, and I thus cruel seem, 
Since 't was my life and but your idle dream ! 




THE TRUTH ENTIRE 

>DO repudiate your unjust blame. 

f Ah, dear one, can those eyes I love 

>be blind 
And in my free avowal fail to find 
The truth entire ? — I should myself defame 
If, seeking pity, further fault I claim. 
Nay, more, 't was yours to loose my soul, not 

bind; 
Against self-doubt to be my champion kind 
And shape past weakness to a nobler aim. 

Swift as the lark that springs to meet the sun, 
The soul will spring to meet the higher 

thought ; 
Deeds must be dreamed before they can be 

done, 
And battles more by faith than steel are 

fought ; 
Believe me, dearest, what you M have me be ! 
Thus giving courage and humility ! 




A SHORT SEPARATION: HE 

>H summer, with this night you crown 
/the year ! 

*The golden moon her richest treasure 
flings 

O'er fragrant grassy slopes, — the cricket sings 
With cheery tinkle, yet my listening ear 
Finds tender sorrow in its cadence clear, — 
Past the warm meadows bathed in misty light, 
I seek the woodland path where yesternight 
We wandered arm in arm. — Now I am here 
Alone : — The whippoorwill sings from the 

bough 
Not, w Whippoorwill " he sings, but " Where 

art thou ? " 
My grieving heart but echoes back his strain, 
Throbbing this perfect night with new-born 

pain, 
For all this loveliness I fain would share, 
Whispers my dreaming heart " Where is she, 

where ? " 




A SHORT SEPARATION: SHE 

!0 you perchance in some dim forest 
'/nook 

»Like this, dream as Tm dreaming ? 
Does your gaze 

Pursue the intricate beauty of the haze 
Of tangled sweetness overhead, your book 
Forgotten where it fell while toward it strays 
Your inadvertent hand ? — Dear ! though the 

maze 
Of alien boughs you thread with dreaming eye 
'T is but to reach beyond them the same sky ! 



10 




HE IS DEJECTED 

] E know not if we had a life before, 
) We know not if a future life we have, 
J And yet we know love lives beyond 
the grave; 

And glad I 'd die to live at your heart's core 
Wrapped in your love and grief for evermore. 

If from oblivion your love could save 

And I might rule where now I am love's 

slave 
I 'd welcome Death though stern the smile he 

wore. 

I'd welcome Death nor fear his mysteries 
Would you but seal my last breath with your 

kiss, 
I would relinquish life without one sigh. 
As others long to live I 'd long to die, 
If loving you could any virtue prove 
My heart were sure of Heaven — a Heaven 

of love ! 



n 




LOVE'S GIFT 

1 H Love, true Love ! I pray thee to 

Ime give 

*That gift thou grant'st those eager 
hearts alone 

Who serve thee best, nor other master own, 
Since thus in thy sweet bondage do I live ! " — 
Comes sadly to my heart Love's low replying : 
" Pain is that gift vouchsafed to Love un- 
dying ! " 



12 




EXILE: HER SPOKEN THOUGHT 
)F I said "Hopeless love was never 
I found " 

»'T was that I vainly strove my heart 
to cheer 

And struggled to forget the trembling fear 
Which shook me, when my heart with sud- 
den bound 
Heard a new sweetness thrilling in the sound 
Of my friend's voice knelling our parting 

drear, — 
Since friendship turned to love would cost 
him dear. 

A woman and unloved, a queen discrowned, 
I '11 seek a joyless exile for his sake. 
Let me go forth from that fair province where 
So late I ruled serene, nor knew the ache 
Of love in banishment. Love fed on air 
Consumes in pain. His love I must not take, 
My joy too dearly bought by his despair ! 



i3 




EXILE: HER THOUGHT UNSPOKEN 
1 KNOW not if I love. When you are by 
I know not, see not, think not aught but 
you ! 

Despairing love my portion when you sue 
Despairingly, yet must I love deny 
Hoping thus to regain identity 
And find once more of my own heart the 

clue, 
Nor grieve that I escape when you pursue, 
Like fawn whose heart is with the hounds in 
cry ! 

Let me go far away, that thus alone 
When time and space us two shall separate, 
My heart may clearly speak and thus discover 
If you and I be really two or one ? 
For when Imagination masks as Fate, 
One might love Love and think she loved 
the lover. 



14 




SHE IS FRIGHTENED AT HIS AN- 
GER AT HER RESOLVING ON A 
LONG ABSENCE 

'OUNDLESS as ocean is your love; 

/yet dark 

I With sudden storms erewhile it whelms 
my soul 

In waves of doubt and bitterness that roll, 
Like winter seas, on some poor helpless bark, 
Dashing it rudderless on cliffs that rise 
Sudden o'erhead, while moaning fog bells toll 
For those who die so near their wished-for 

goal, 
Which shrouded in white mist before them 
lies. 

Then at my grief you change and tender seem 
As that same ocean on a summer morn, 
Bringing sweet comfort to my heart forlorn 
Till sorrows past but turned to joy I deem, 
For all my grief that in your frown was born 
Dies in your smile as in a happy dream. 



i5 




A LETTER SHE WROTE BUT DID 
NOT SEND 

AY not you 've " lost " me, the word 
I like a stone 

Falls on my heart. Though I 'm no 
longer near 

To clasp your friendly hand and call you dear 
And cheer the sadness that is only known 
To my divining love, you 're not alone ! 
My loving thoughts still bear you company, 
Drive them not from you, oh, forget not me ! 
Nor reap in tender leaf the love just sown. 

My written words must find their instant way 
Straight to your heart as spoken ones have 

done 
In those too happy days so lately gone 
When I was with you and you still were kind. 
Or have I lost you ? 'Tis for you to say — 
Me you can never lose but only find. 



16 




NO LETTER FROM HIM! 

)AST half forgot me? Once I was 

|thy mind. 

&Dost but half love me? Once I was 
thy heart. 
What once thou gav'st me left no more 

behind. 
I give all back nor care to keep a part, 
Where once I reigned I leave an empty throne, 
But fill it worthily, I ask alone. 



17 




SHE THINKS HE IS CHANGED 

J LONE to-night, the myriad stars 

above, 
>The ocean softly breaking at my feet, 
My heart is full of one I did not love, 
And yet whose memory is strangely sweet. 

Another holds his future in her hand 
E'en in his present is for me no place, 

Yet as the waves to-night break on the sand 
I hear his voice, I almost see his face. — 

Farewell to-night, beside the stars and sea 
Forget me, with the sorrows of thy past ; 
Alone am I, and yet thou art with me 
More truly now than when all mine thou wast. 



18 




SHE LOVES 

j^HERE is delight in loving, though no 
jmore 

You claim my love and oceans roll 
between, 

The waves that beat upon your distant shore 
They wait not for your bidding. You have been 
My friend for long ; but since I did depart 
You say you will not love, and for me sigh 
But rather tear me quickly from your heart. 
So be it, dear, God bless you and good-bye ! 

Yet there 's delight in sorrow of love born 
A fair sad moon from out a stormy sea 
Rising above the sobbing waves and torn 
By riband clouds across its face that flee — 
Such grief for me, for you forgetfulness — 
I ask no more, you cannot give me less ! 



19 



SHE HOPES 

^HINK not you can forget me! I 

| have won 

• From your great love grief's immortality 
My shadow in your heart when I am gone 
And absence can but bind not set you free ! 




20 



SHE DESPAIRS 

THOUGH I may look upon thy face no 
Jmore, 

2* Though love's own sweetness heightens 
love's regret 

My sorrowing heart would this one grace implore, 
That I may never and thou soon forget ! 




21 




HER LETTER ON HEARING HIM 

ILL SPOKEN OF 

J THOUGHT you of a grander make 
f Than Nature fashioned you ; 
>I built your image in my heart 
More large, more bold, more true. 

I held you to the higher aim 

And wearied thus your soul, 
Nor knew your timid heart preferred 

A lower, easier goal. 

The mountain-tops were not for you 

The valley small was best ; 
Who upwards struggle towards the heights 

Must ever know unrest. 

Now you are smiling, smooth, content 

And easily forget 
The mountain-tops your bleeding feet 

Trod long ago, — and yet ! 

Sometimes a long-forgotten thrill 

Wakes 'neath the solemn stars, 
Your valley small a prison is 

Though flowers conceal its bars. — 

The quiet midnight speaks to you, 

You draw a sobbing breath ! 
You '11 climb once more those star-crowned 
heights 
The other side of death ! 
22 




SELF-ENCOURAGEMENT 

'EJOICE, O Soul, in the morning 

, Awaken at last to thine own, 

JThis life was not meant for thy 

scorning, 

Nor sighing, nor making of moan. 

This life was not meant for thy scorning 
But to teach thee thy weakness, thy might ! 
Rejoice, O Soul, in the morning 
And lift up thy face to the light ! 



23 




HIS ANSWER 

j)Y weary soul leaps to its feet, 
)My courage grown so small 
» Springs suddenly to larger life, 
Waked by your trumpet call. 

The chains of cowardice and sloth 
Your word has stript from me ; 

I go rejoicing to the fight, 
Your faith has set me free. 

Up, up above the battle smoke 

Your banner I will bear, 
Up to the heights you bid me seek, 

And you shall see it there. 

Shall see it waving in the sun 

And pain and wounds are naught 

Since I have conquered by your faith 
And reached your higher thought ! 



24 



HER ANSWER TO A SCEPTICAL 
LETTER 

JHE world so deafens you, you do not hear 
?0A voice that calls and calls to you in vain ! 




&54SHThough you refuse His joy He holds you 
dear 

And gives to you his anguish and His pain. 

Do vou not feel that life can never die ? 

You love, you hate, you strive, do you not 
guess 
What power is vours through all eternitv 

To live, yourself, mighty to curse or bless ? 



25 




HIS ANSWER 

j^RUTH dwells upon the mountain- 
jtops alone. 

> Through various ways we all must 
seek it there. 

What though I climb o'er rough-hewn path 
of stone 
And thou o'er flowers, we breathe the self- 
same air. 

We breathe the selfsame air, the selfsame 
love 

Encompasses and leads us on our way, 
Our faces turned to the same skies above, 

By various ways to the same God we pray. 

Then let us feel the bond that makes us one, 
Though different be our mood, our thought, 
our speech, 
Let love unite us all beneath God's sun 
That shines for all, nor chooses each from 
each. 

Truth dwells upon the mountain-tops alone; 

Truth shines into our hearts from Heaven's 
star; 
Truth teaches us that multitudes are one, 

And hearts are one that seek it near or far ! 



26 




ON RECEIVING HIS LETTER 

*T night beneath the solemn stars I 

/stood 

&And watched the spacious loveliness, 

but yet 

Life's struggle and defeat could not forget, 

To-morrow's terrors trembled in my blood ! 

One came and said u Receive into thine heart 
Vast starry courage from the heavens above ; 
In this great universe whose law is love 
Whose end is victory, thou hast thy part." 



27 




MEETING AFTER LONG ABSENCE : 
AS SHE FEARED IT WOULD BE 

)ERE in this room, where first we met, 
I And where we said farewell with tears, 
>Here, where you swore "Though 
you forget 

My love shall deeper grow with years," 

Here, where the pictures on the wall, 

The very rugs upon the floor, 
The smallest objects you recall, — 

I am awaiting you once more. 

The books that we together read, 

From off their shelves they beckon me 

All here seems living ! What is dead ? 
What is the ghost I fear to see ? 

Unchanged am I. — Did you despise 

My love as " small " — it fills my heart ! 

You come — a stranger from your eyes 
Looks out — and meeting first we part. 



28 




AFTER LONG ABSENCE: AS IT WAS 
^TOLD myself in singing words 
[That you were changed and I was true 
»I would not trust winds, waves and birds 

That change was not in you. 

I sang love's dirge before we met 
u As murdered corpse in river bed 

In eyes my heart cannot forget 
I see Love lying dead ! " 

You came — one look — no word was spoken 
Our hands, once clasped, forgot to part 

And though our silence is unbroken 
Heart has found rest on heart. 



29 



THE END 

QP^VpHE moon through trackless forests 

rinds a way, 
td&H&The ocean's pulses swell beneath its swav, 
Whom sacred love hath joined can never part, 

Heart of my heart. 

The waves that gently lap the sands at eve, 
The winds that sobbing through the forest 

grieve, 
Thev are thv messengers of peace or strife, 
Life of my life. 

All high endeavor draws me close to thee, 
Space cannot dominate the spirit free, 
Thv love, my part, makes me know God, the 
whole 

Soul of my soul. 



30 



LOVE AND DEATH 



31 




LOVE AND DEATH 

)OVE'S not Death's slave and 

.fears not his undoing; 

/Life is of all Love's foes most 

{pitiless, 

'And custom tarnishes what in the 
wooing 
Seemed all the heart's desire of happiness. 

Death is Love's friend, and sets a holy seal 
On all the past that never can be broken. 
Its beautifying touch knows to reveal 
On lips long silent eloquence unspoken. 



33 




DEATH, THOU ART BEAUTIFUL 
'EATH, thou art beautiful, and happy 
|art thou, Death ! 
*And thy strange calm and smile 

remote shall hold 

A peace unbroken by my sobbing breath, 
My living lips that tremble at thy cold. 

Yet thou art beautiful, and happy art thou, 
Death ! 
For in the grave love lays to rest all fear 
Change cannot come, and never perisheth 
The joy of memories daily grown more 
dear. 

Yes, thou art beautiful, and happy art thou, 
Death ! 
My trembling lips no more shall fear thy 
touch, 
My dear one is with Him who truly saith 
" Ye shall cast out all fear by loving much ! " 



34 




SORROW 

IHE youthful heart in its first sorrow 
Jcries 

'"None suffer as I suffer! None 
can know 
Such misery and live ! " And grief's surprise 

Enhances thus its woe. 
The heart grown old, whom Sorrow leads 
aside 
From paths of happiness, to know her face, 
Submissive sighs : " Yes, men have lived and 
died 
By myriads in this place ! " 
And feels with added pang that grief as keen 
Is, and has been. 



35 




AT SORROW'S WINDOW 

*T Sorrow's window many faces be, 
/But one so gently young, so pure and fair, 
^That I must wonder in such place to see 
That face, yet love it more for being there. 

So might an angel look, who, earthward sent, 
Our world of sordid cares and hopes to 
know, 

Stands with an air of sad bewilderment 
Discerning what we cherish here below ! 

One day in passing I looked up in vain, 
From Sorrow's window looked that face 
no more, 
" Dear Girl ! " I cried, " you are gone home 
again, 
But ah, this world is poorer than before ! " 



36 




TOO LATE 

2HE grief that wrings my heart to-night 
]Is old as Love and stern as Fate, 
^But yesterday I was unkind 
And now I grieve to-day too late. 

I stretch to you imploring hands 
And naught I grasp but empty air, 

The loving words that were your due 
I sob, too late, in futile prayer. 

The grief that wrings my heart to-night 
Is your love's message to my soul 

And life cannot contaminate 
What memories of you control. 



37 




NOT DEAD 

[ OU are not dead, your voice speaks to 
I me ever 

»And bids me know you living and 
still near 

Death is not death that has no power to sever 
One strand of the love that holds you ever 
dear. 

You are not dead, I joy in your freed spirit ! 

I fear no longer death or solitude ; 
The immortality you do inherit 

You share with me in all its plenitude. 



38 




IN DAYS GONE BY: RONDEAU 
REDOUBLE 

>N days gone by when you were here 
f I little heeded what you said ; 
»I watched the skies above me clear, 
I listened to the thrush instead. 

To this same spot my feet are led 
By thoughts of you another year 

The selfsame pine-trees rose o'erhead 
In days gone by, when you were here. 

Their slender forms to-day they rear 
Aloft in the same beauty spread 

But ah ! The thrush's song I fear ! — 
I little heeded what you said. 

And now, as starving man for bread, 
I'd spring to catch one word of cheer 

Yet when with love my heart you fed 
I watched the skies above me clear ! 

Once more on the same pine-leaves, sere 
And fragrant 'neath the summer's tread, 

I lie and think with many a tear 
" I listened to the thrush instead ! " 

I listened to the thrush instead, 

Yet could I now one accent hear 
Of that loved voice forever fled ! . . . 
I knew not that you were so dear 
In days gone by ! 
39 




REQUIESCAT IN PACE 

*RTIST and woman, daughter, mother, 

/wife, 

&In her white beauty smiling here she lies, 
Solemn yet joyful are the mysteries 
Her closed lips tell us of! — Eternal life 
Is hers. Eternal peace. — Hush ! weep not 

lest she hears 
And joy relinquishes to share your tears ! 



40 



THE SMILING DEAD 

2HE smiling dead, for whom the sun 

jshall rise 

>No more, I pity not. 
Grief's for the living who with longing eyes 
Cry " Death hath us forgot ! " 




41 



SOME GRAVES THERE ARE! 

lOME graves there are where Death 

i)will not abide 

>Love makes of them the very homes 
of Faith | 

More life than lives in all the world beside 
Lies hid their turf beneath. 




42 




LIFE AND DEATH 

Phrixine. Tis V olbev, el £rjv tqv&, ot Ke/cX^rat Oavelv, 
To pjv $e 6vrj(TK€iv eori ; 

Euripides, frag. 

1H ye who see with other eyes than ours, 
.And speak with tongues we are too 
'deaf to hear, 
Whose touch we cannot feel yet know ye near 
When with a sense of yet undreamed-of 

powers 
We sudden pierce the cloud of sense that 

lowers 
Enwrapping us as 't were our spirit's tomb, 
And catch some sudden glory through the 

gloom 
As Arctic sufferers dream of sun and flowers ! 

Do ye not sometimes long for power to speak 
To our dull ears and pierce their shroud of clay 
With a loud-thought cry : " Why this grief at 

1 Death ' ? 
We are the living you the dead to-day ! 
This truth you soon shall see, dear hearts, 

yet weak, 
In God's bright mirror cleared from mortal 

breath ! " 



43 



A WORD FROM A FREED SPIRIT 

*H, dear ones, dear ones, do not grieve. 
|)Think ! 't is my joy for which you 
1 sorrow, 

Try but to feel what you believe ! — 
That you shall be with me to-morrow. 




44 



MISCELLANEOUS POEMS 



45 



ART 

JOULDST know the artist? Then 

)go seek 
Him in his labors. — Though he strive 

HThat Nature's voice alone should speak 

IJFrom page or canvas to the heart, 
Yet is it passionately alive 
With his own soul ! Of him 't is part ! — 
This happy failure, this is Art. 




47 




ALLSTON'S PICTURE OF LOR- 
ENZO AND JESSICA 

2WO silent lovers sitting side by side 
]In the still twilight of a summer eve, 

^They pensive seem, yet not as those 
who grieve, 

But on the waves of Fancy softly glide, 
Conscious of love and beauty, naught beside : 
Finding from life's hot struggle blest reprieve 
In this blest moment when the world they 

leave, 
Which stretches out behind them fair and 

wide 
'Neath tender fading light, yet fairer far 
The world they see as hand-in-hand they 

dream. 
While on the breeze floats soft, melodious 

swell 
Of faint-heard music, that to them might 

seem 
As if it came from yon clear-shining star, 
And was at once Love's greeting and farewell ! 



48 




A RAINY DAY WITH THE AN- 
THOLOGY 

^?HE skies frown on me through the 
j falling rain, 

>I smile on them for answer, and return 
To mv low chair beside the fire again 

And to my book upon whose pages burn 
Verses whose beauty makes all else seem vain. 

What though the rain pour down from dawn 
to night, 
What though my door turn on its hinge to 
none, 
I would not have these fancies put to flight, 
But dream these dreams unbroken and 
alone, 
Naught to disturb this delicate delight. 



49 




WITH A BOOK OF VERSE 

2AKE once more what is yours : since 
Jit is mine 

''T is surely yours ! If it have aught 
Of value, yours the praise. — Let not the 

wine 
Deny the grape ! Its lucent ruby bright 
Is but the lingering of the stored sunlight 
That dwelt in the grape's heart and ripened 

there 
Through the long summer days when cold 

and care 
And parting were unknown — and, O my 

friend ! 
In sending you my book, your own I send. 



50 




WITH A FLOWER FROM CARNAC 
^PLUCKED this bit of yellow gorse 
[for thee 

s>By a huge menhir where on Carnac's shore 
The long waves murmur dirges evermore 
For men dead ere the birth of history. — 
Here once they lived whom Time's immensity 
Hath quite o'erwhelmed, and blotted out their 

page 
From the world's book ! On them may 

learned sage 
Descant, and poet dream, here by the sea ! 

But none may know what were their thoughts, 
their lives — 

None e'er may know ! none living or un- 
born ! — 

Were these their tombs built where the strong 
sea strives 

In vain to hold the warm elusive sands ? 

Were these hard by their altars, where forlorn 

They stretched to Heaven imploring empty 
hands ? 



5i 




CHATEAU D'HAUTEFORT: NOW 

> SUNLIT castle on a solemn height 
) Whence the broad distance rolling like a sea 

> Stretches below light-bathed immensity ! 
The glory of thy past has taken flight, 

But not thy beauty, Hautefort ! That shines 

bright, 
Though loyalty and truth and constancy 
In the last seignior's grave all buried be 
And he has joined his king, that last true knight ! 

Hautefort ! once strong to shelter, at thy feet 

The little feudal village lingers still, 

Like group of frightened children that have run 

To seek protection. While its slanting street 

The purple shades of falling twilight fill, 

Thy towers, still glorious, catch the vanished sun. 

This castle belonged to the late Comte de Damas, 
an intimate friend and devoted follower of the Comte 
de Chambord, Henri V. of France. The Comte de 
Chambord bequeathed to the Comte de Damas the 
white flag with the three lilies, this was placed to the 



52 




CHATEAU D'HAUTEFORT: THEN 
JNTHRONED upon thy hills in 
^stately pride, 

aHautefort ! in thee the past doth live 
again 

Here with his thousand armed men in train 
Bertrand de Born brought his fair girlish 

bride. 
Here the Black Prince in vain for victory 

sighed, 
And stormed against thy mighty walls in vain 
As some o'ermastering flood sweeps bare the 

plain 
But breaks against the steadfast rock its tide. 

This was that France for which so many gave 
Their lives with joy, and watered with their 

blood 
The thirsty dust, from which her lilies sprung, 
And knight and clown served her in brother- 
hood ! 
For them a foreign prison or a grave, 
For her the glory which her poets sung. 

right of the altar in the castle chapel, and beneath it 
the Comte de Damas was buried, at his own request, 
the fringe of the banner just touching the tombstone. 
The castle is mentioned in Dante's Di<vina Corn- 
media , as " che gia tenne Ahafc!^," Inferno, 
XXIX. 29. 



53 




FAILURE 

j?ACH conqueror hath his singer, none 

(have they, 

bThe unrecorded multitude ! and yet 
Why should we the great struggling mass 

forget 
Whose dying bodies pave the victor's way ? — 
Are they not heroes who can stand at bay 
To fight a losing battle ! — Cheeks are wet 
And hearts are wrung, but when God's task 

is set 
'T is theirs to strive and die amid the fray. 

And they die silent ! — In that mighty throng 
Are pale-lipped mothers with strained anxious 

eyes 
And youth deprived of joy and strength 

grown weak, 
With bare and bleeding hands they fight the 

wrong 
And crushed by failure some poor hearts 

must break, 
Yet o'er their graves the path of victory lies ! 



54 




THE SOUL'S SELF 

j)Y friend, do you believe I rate my soul 
I j)As better than it is ? — Then let it be, — 
sNor rob me of the nobler part of me. 
Better a half truth than a lying whole, 
I am that part I would myself conceive. 
'T is through such errors martyrs face the 

flame 
Smiling, and keep down cowardice for shame 
Since they in God and in themselves believe ! 

What is the Rose ? 'T is not a thorny bush, 
But June incarnate bidding hearts rejoice ; 
This small brown bird is not the woodland 

thrush, 
But all the summer's sweetness in a voice ; 
The soul's true self is that which closest lies 
To the great silent heart whence all things 

rise. 



55 



THE SECRETS OF ALL HEARTS 

*F it be true that on the Judgment day 
J The secrets of all hearts shall be revealed 
»Had I the power to choose I'd notarise, 
But sleep forever in my tomb tight sealed ! 
Bare, shivering souls, stript of this kindly clay, 
Shall we not fear e'en the most loving eyes ? 




56 




TO TIME 

JIME ! men have chidden thee with 

jdeep-breathed curse 

>And challenged thee as Love's re- 
lentless foe, 

Time! at thy feet I lay my humble verse, 
For thou hast ever helped true love to grow. 

Fancies, like butterflies, 'neath the first frost 
Fall lifeless at the fading flower's feet, 

But Love loves on unheeding pain and cost 
And clasps the thorns where roses once 
were sweet. 

Ah ! blest be pain and cost, since but the 
more 
Through them doth Love increase to meet 
Love's need 
Till thou, O Time ! throw wide that garden's 
door 
Wherein, Death-sown, blooms Love's un- 
dying seed. 



57 




REPENTANCE 

5 HEN suddenly all self-condemned we 

[) stand 

JAnd see the chaff lie thick upon life's 
floor, — 

The besom, waved with over zealous hand, 
Sweeps grain with chaff its eager strokes before, 
And all our hopes of harvest seem undone. 
But, the long winter of repentance o'er, 
The gentle spring returns with shower and sun 
And where was erst gray dust beside the door 
One day is half imagined and half seen 
A sudden lightly scattered veil of green 
And faint hope trembles into life once more. 



58 




SYMPATHY 

*F all my heart cries out to you 
fMy lips could say, 
s>To your sad heart with comfort true 
'T would find a way. 

But love's each heart-throb holds far more 

Than words can tell : 
Silent I stood before your door, 

Tears silent fell. 



59 




GRIEFS LONELINESS 

J LONE and uncompanioned must thou go 
/Through Sorrow's portals, for thee 
^opened wide, 

While I, who 'Id follow thee to share thy woe 
In helpless sympathy am shut outside. 

I beat with clenched fist that iron door 

Within which thou alone confront'st thy 
fate y 

Dear Heart, whatever thy pain, I suffer more 
Who powerless to aid thee here must wait. 



60 



MEETING AFTER ABSENXE AND 
CHANGE 

; AN I indeed be I, and vou be vou, 

i: stranger seems 
igs of dreams, 
And ve: vou: race thai once so well I knew 
Senile? through the whirling darkness — ves 



MHa??yve: parted ? Th 
"S^Tha: 



The cast Is cast — and memory without pain 

And pictures in mv mind our last adieu. 

With trembling voice, cold hand, and palinz 

cheek 
Y:u said g:cd-bve at sunset — and alone 
Went stumbling down the hill to meet the 

Ana I — I watched the ever-fading light 
Ana felt mv heart slow turning into stone 
And waved the last farewell I could not 
speak. 



61 



IN THE MORNING 

jr|HE first cold grayness through the 
Jpane is stealing, 

^ And blinding terror with the rising sun 
Strikes on my shrinking heart and bids it shun 
The inexorable day, which in revealing 
My wakeful grief shows that which knows 

no healing, 
Since not for me, but for a dearer one, 
And not for innocent pain but sin that's 

done — 
Done, unforgettable and past repealing — 

All night I've looked into the eyes of sorrow, 
And still she gazes at me with your eyes, 
In whose loved depths such anguished 

question lies, 
As if from mine some piteous hope they 'd 

borrow. 
The day is come and soon you will be here, 
God give me strength ! I fear, I fear, I fear ! 



62 




TO A DESPAIRING LOVER 

fOUR love you cherish more than 
ilife, you say, 

»And with hot tears each night to 
Heaven you pray — 

Not for release, not that you may love less 
Or in some other heart find happiness, 
But that you may love more, with love more 

high 
Grown worthier, purer, each day till you 

die. — 
Ah, sweet young love, that to such prayers 

can move ! 
Ah sweet, mad folly, wisdom far above ! 
Your sorrows are another name for bliss, 
In days to come perchance you '11 think of 

this, 
With lips that smile and eyes that gaze 

through tears, 
Seeing the beauty of that youthful dream, 
Down the long leafy vista of the years, 
Where sunlit grief as fair as joy shall seem ! 



63 




ONCE MORE 

?HE rustling pine-trees overhead. 
] What do they say to me ? 
>Once more I part with one now dead, 
Beside the dashing sea. 

Once more we stand there, hand-in-hand, 

Upon that lonely shore ; 
Hopes break as waves upon the sand, 

And love must live no more. 

Once more I gaze in those dark eyes 

That seem the world to me ; 
Once more my heart awakes and sighs 

For what can never be. 



64 




WHAT THE BROOK SAID 
"SSOSf HY are you laughing:" said the 
)P brook to me, 

Why are you laughing r Blest are 
they that weep ! " 

And all my laughter trembled into tears. 
Past lips that smiled slow heavy tears ran down, 
As sudden raindrops fall when southward 

veers 
The wind, seeking; the leaves long falFn, the 

birds long flown. 
" Why are you weeping ? " said the brook 

to me, 
" Why are you weeping ? Blest are they that 

sleep!'" 



65 



ANSWER TO A QUESTION 

?OU ask if I can love you as you are, 
I As I with all my faults am loved by you ? 
-Since you see Heaven shine in a drop 

of dew 

Could I then, Dearest, miss it in a star ? 




66 




SONG 

J HE song we never sung 
]The pine-trees sigh in chorus, 
^The eyes our eyes must shun 
Our hearts keep still before us. 

The rose we gathered not 
Blooms in the soul forever, 

And hands ne'er clasped in life 
Death hath no power to sever. 



67 




SONG 

LOVE than love more pure, 
Friendship than friendship dearer, 
This feeling shall endure 
Through life and draw us nearer. 

A day without day's heat, 

A night without night's terrors, 

A friendship yet more sweet 

Than love, without love's errors. 

Whene'er my soul is wrung 

With a delicious sorrow, 
By songs of heroes sung, 

From them new joy I borrow, 

Since thou my hero art, 

And thou canst me inspire 
With courage e'en to part 

From thee, if Fate require. 

Though cut by Duty's knife, 

Our love's chain joins unbroken : 

Though kept apart by life, 

We meet in prayers unspoken. 

A love than love more pure, 

Friendship than friendship dearer, 

This feeling shall endure, 

Till glad Death brings us nearer. 



6S 




SONG 

}H, dark eyes, that but grow the more 
L tender 

>As you look through the mist of long 
years ! 

Ah, sad voice that cried : u Angels defend 
her ! " 
Then ceased, broken by swift-flowing tears. 

How could angels be deaf to such pleading, 
Whose echo rings through my heart yet ? 

While that last prayer to Heaven was speeding, 
My heart first forgot to forget. 

From what should His angels have kept me ? 

Love's agonies, doubts, and love's fears, 
All love's torrent of grief has o'erswept me, 

And no angel takes pity or cheers. 

I hear but his voice and its sorrow, 
I see but his eyes and their pain, 

And yet, if he came on the morrow, 
Perchance I should grieve him again. 



69 




CHERRY BLOSSOMS 

^HE blossoms white have covered the tree, 
]The blossoms that crowd when comes 
(the spring. 

These blossoms white are my songs to thee, 
All, all my songs, that to thee I sing 
From the deepest heart of me. 

They are many as many my songs to thee 
As the crowding blossoms that shield your 

head, 
From the sunlight now, — soon, soon to be 
A carpet white for your feet instead, 
When they fall and forgotten be. 

Though 'neath thy feet they die for thee 
On the cold black earth, with another spring 
More blossoms white shall cover the tree, 
And thine, all thine, are the songs I sing, 
As the singer must ever be. 



70 




DECEMBER 

JOhD winds have swept the frozen 
J furrows bare 

>The leaves, Spring's whilom mes- 
sengers and summer's pride 
Now brown, unsightly rustle through the air 
And soon in sodden heaps are pushed aside. 
All birds are silent save the sullen crow 

Who croaks exultant o'er the year's defeat. 
Why does this desolate season fairer show 

Than all the glory that made summer sweet? 

This miracle, dear Love, thy voice has 

wrought, 

For which in vain I listened, listened long; 

While waiting Summer's beauty went as 

nought : 

Now all seems loveliness and full of song ! 



7i 




HERE I LIE DREAMING: RONDEAU 
)ERE I lie dreaming, and the breath 
|of spring 

&Fans my hot cheek, while softly 
whispering 

Sweet thoughts of my dear Love and of the day 
When at her feet upon the grass I lav 
And watched the budding boughs above us 

fling 
A rosy challenge of sweet blossoming 
To tempt the birds in the blue air that sing. — 
Once more, as then, 'neath blissful Fancy's 
sway 
Here I lie dreaming ! 
The selfsame songs above my head outring 
The selfsame joy wantons through everything 
The selfsame birds light on the blooming 

spray 
My heart, in vain, seeks thee the old sweet 

way, 
While to thy love as bird to spray I cling, 
Here I lie dreaming ! 



72 



TO HELEN 

*CCEPT the flowers along thy path- 




way, Sweet ! 

^Incurious of the seed thou hast not 
sown, — 

Though poor the heart, 't was ever thine alone; 
Though small the cup, 't was emptied at thy 
feet ! 



73 




TO HELEN WITH A HAND GLASS 
SOULDST know the face that ever 
(comes between 
)The world and me, 
The face that from the hour when first 't was 
seen 
I ever see ? 

Look in this glass ! But ne'er for thee will 
shine 
The spirit's fire 
That lights up eyes and lips when thoughts 
divine 
That face inspire. 

If to all others it is beautiful 

I cannot tell ; 
That of my life it is not part but whole 

I know too well ! 



74 




LOVE, ART THOU GONE? 

^UST once more in thine eyes' deep 

jheav'n I look 

>To read the tenderness I would not 
know 

Till love confessed itself and from us took 
A joy too great to live on earth below. 

Just once more, though the only word : Fare- 
well ! 
I hear thy love speak in each thrilling tone ; 
Though cold the word, the impassioned ac- 
cents tell 
That we are parting for love's sake alone. 

No more, no more ! This handclasp is our 

last, 
Alas, how hands will cling when hearts are 

one ! 
Thou sharedst my sorrows in the happy 

past, 
Love, let me bear thy grief ! Love, art thou 

gone ? 



75 




LADY OF THE MOONLIGHT 

«EAR Lady of the Moonlight, here we 
/walked, 

»Dim tree-tops arched mysterious over- 
head 

Wild shrubs, unseen, about us as we talked 
Warm fragrance shed. 

Great oaks their gnarled boughs triumphant 

tost 
In the strange beauty of that summer night 
The moon in darkest forest tangle lost 
Was hid from sight. 

But soon she netted in her silver snare 

The woods and pierced their thickets dark 

and sweet, 
My heart was taken captive unaware 
And trembled at thy feet. 

Dear Lady of the Moonlight, yet once more 
This summer night our forest path I seek^ 
Thy gentle presence near me as before^ 
Thou dost not speak. 

Yet all the beauty of the night finds voice 
To speak of thee! I know thee by my side 
And in thy love shall to all time rejoice 
Though thou hast died ! 



76 




MUST I THEN WOUND THEE? 

j)UST I then wound thee ? Firm I 
Jjhold the knife 

t Yet 'twixt it and thy heart I fling my life. 
Then strike, since strike I must, and gladly 

feel, 
As through my hot heart goes the chilling 

steel, 
That e'er it pierce thy heart, as pierce it must, 
My breast has caught the first force of the 

thrust, 
And thus shall rob the steel of its cold sting, 
Ere it reach thee, warmed by the streams that 

spring 
From my love's fount, so dear it shall have 

grown 
Fresh from my heart thou 'It welcome it to 

thine own. 



77 




LOVE AND ANGER 

3 F Love from out the citadel thou'd thrust 
fThen drive out Anger too, Love's nimble 
'page 

Dancing attendance for the promised wage, 

Forgetfulness — yet only paid on trust ! 

Love's cloak of pride were trailing in the dust 

But for his ready services, and yet, 

As ready payment he can never get, 

For Love and Anger both gnaw memory's 
crust. 

If thou canst not forgive her, thy heart's core 
Still holds an altar to her consecrate ! 
There burns the lamp, if lit by love or hate, 
Though thou fling stones where flowers were 

placed before. 
'T is not for the forgetting, be it said, 
That savages heap stones above their dead ! 



7* 




EL MIHRAB : THE HOLY OF HOLIES 

OF THE MOSQUE AT CORDOVA 
TERE have men prayed a thousand 
|years and more, 
^Hastening from beggar's hut and 

kingly throne, 

Moslems and Christians kneeling on this 
stone 

Have furrowed it; as anguished tears that 
pour 

Down smooth fair cheeks slow hollow path- 
ways score, 

Here have they brought their grief, here made 
their moan 

And here each seeking heart has found its 
own 

If " Allah " or if « God " they did implore. 

Down the long pillared aisles the organ's 

chaunt 
Rolls soft and distant, as through forests vast 
The wind at night makes solemn melodies, 
Borne on its rhythmic waves what visions 

haunt 
The dreamer's fancy of the storied past, 
What pageants, pathos, anguish, victories ! 



79 




TO A BRIDE 

^HY youthful roses all to lilies turned, 
)Thy head droops shyly like a lily fair : 
>Thy slender height new dignity doth wear : 
Sweet seriousness thy very smile hath learned 
And eyes now wistful sink, where late have 

burned 
Bright girlish flames. — And yet a charm 

more rare, 
A sweet pathetic grace, now lingers there 
And tells of joy that yet hath grief discerned, 

Since only those who know the high delight, 
The awful bliss of loving with the whole 
Informing force that lives in a pure soul, 
Can dimly guess at Sorrow's deadly might. — 
But far from thee may Sorrow ever dwell, 
Encompassed round by love — then — Fare 
thee well. 



80 




HORSEMAN SPRINGING FROM 

THE DARK: A DREAM 

NORSEMAN, springing from the dark, 
jftHorseman, flying wild and free, 
&Tell me what shall be thy road 

Whither speedest far from me ? " 

" From the dark into the light, 
From the small unto the great, 
From the valleys dark I ride 

O'er the hills to conquer fate ! " 

" Take me with thee, horseman mine ! 
Let me madly ride with thee ! " 
As he turned I met his eyes, 

My own soul looked back at me I 



81 



IMPRESSIONS 



THIS BOOK IS PRINTED DURING SEPTEMBER 
1898 BY THE UNIVERSITY PRESS CAM- 
BRIDGE MASSACHUSETTS 



J|| L 171899 



